You Master what you Measure

Do you think reality hurts? Be honest, have you ever stepped on a scale and been forced to face reality? You should have seen my wife and me years ago as we took our 6-month old daughter Tori to the doctor’s office. The doctor walked in, took Tori’s length, and then said, “Since Tori can’t stand up yet and she can’t seem to sit still, we’re going to need another method to take her weight. Let’s have one of you stand on the scale with Tori and then stand on the scale without Tori and then we will take the difference as her weight.” My wife looked at us as if to say, “That’s a wonderful idea for Craig to do.”

I walked confidently over to the scale as the doctor placed my beautiful daughter in my arms. Then it happened. I looked down at the scale and was shocked at what it said. Holding my daughter in my arms, I immediately looked at my wife and said, “Wow, this is one fat baby!”

Isn’t it interesting how, when things don’t go our way or when we don’t measure up to some standard, it’s almost in our DNA to blame someone else? Isn’t it ironic that I blamed my daughter for carrying too much weight when most of the time we blame others for not carrying enough weight? Think about it. One department blames another. One employee blames his boss. One spouse points the finger at another and relationships fall apart.

This would not happen as often if we just did one thing; measure ourselves and face reality. After I finally faced reality of what I weighed, I found myself on the fast track to losing weight and gaining great health. I lost 37 pounds in 6 months but, more importantly, I made life changes that are sustainable. It has been 6 years and those changes have me at my healthiest point ever. You master what you measure. What is your scale?

The great news is you can measure yourself in all aspects of life. For example, I wear an audio recorder during every single speech I give. Why? It’s because that’s one of my scales. After my speech, I can go home and listen to it and see how to improve the next one. You master what you measure.

What is it that you would like to master? How are you measuring your progress?  What is your scale?